São Paulo vaccine factory expansion to start in November

The expansion of Butantan Biological Institute’s Covid-19 vaccine factory is on schedule: construction will start in November, São Paulo Governor João Doria announced on Monday. Mr. Doria also expressed that the project will cost around BRL 160 million, of which BRL 97 million (more than 60 percent) has already been raised in a state partnership with the private sector. However, the investment won’t be used for the creation of a new research facility, but to offer a new, modern structure to the existing institute, which is part of the University of São Paulo (USP). 

The race for a vaccine

The CoronaVac, a vaccine developed alongside the Chinese laboratory Sinovac Biotech, should be delivered in H2 2021. The new structure expected in the Butantan Institutecould produce up to 100 million doses of the medicine per year, including other types of vaccines for other future medical campaigns. 

The director of the Institute, Dimas Covas, said the facility should be completed by the end of 2021, allowing the site to operate “at full capacity” in 2022.

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